Chapter 212 Alongside the river, beneath the pale moonlight
Chang Nuo realized that he made an indiscreet remark again. When he tried to patch up the lie, the words on the stone wall attracted He Danggui unexpectedly. She asked in a trance, “Who wrote these?”
Chang Nuo glanced at it and replied, “Lord Ning. The cave was discovered by him, and the words as well.” Picking up a puppet on the ground, he explained, “3 years ago, Lord Ning healed in Luo’s Mansion. He has already put his life on the line, but his internal injury was aggravated after conveying Zhenqi to you for 2 successive days. Ming Yue told me these. Lord Ning had to come into the Bitter Bamboo Grove, a secluded place, and cured himself for several days in these caves. And these puppets were left by him at that time.”
He Danggui contemplated the poem on the wall. It said, “Alongside the river, beneath the pale moonlight, the withered winter lotus makes the loneliness more bitter.”
Chang Nuo thought that she was moved and about to change her mind. So, he persuaded like a merciful Buddhist abbot guiding people to perform good deeds, “Miss He, I feel sorry for your hard life. But you are beautiful and talented, like a fine pearl. To be honest, I am unwilling to see that you are unacknowledged. But now, please have the patience with my words whether it’s acceptable or not.”
He Danggui poked the puppets of varying size in the same face lying on the ground. They were carved out of stones, woods or bamboos. Even one was made from saponins.
Chang Nuo looked at her with kind eyes, and said, “We have investigated your origin. And we feel pitiful for it because it is your sole defect. If you own the status of the lady like Luo Baishao and others, at least you will have the possibility of marrying in a marquis’s family and being an elected Xiunv (women in the Imperial Harem). But now, your mother has remarried in an unhappy marriage. Unavoidably, those not in the know would question her conducts and further your family education. I guess that when most of men choose concubines, they will choose a pretty girl of a humble family, instead of not a well-educated and abandoned girl from a respectable family. Do you think so?”
He Danggui had no words to retort his acid remarks. After all, the heads of puppets on the ground had frightened her. So, she didn’t take anything to heart.
Staring at her low expression, Chang Nuo had pity for her. He sighed and continued, “You are suffering these consequences caused by the divorcement of your parents. Have you never nursed a grievance? Are you really willing to marry a mediocre man for the rest of your life? Don’t you want to live a wonderful life to amaze people who looked down upon you?” Seeing a little hair falling out of her ear, habitually, he put them behind her ears like he did for his sister. Her ears were cute, but her earlobes were too thin, which seemed to symbolize that she was born unlucky.
He Danggui felt a sense of warmth near her ear, and someone combed her hair. Looking up, she found Chang Nuo staring at her ears. Unconsciously, she covered her ears.
Chang Nuo smiled and said, “What beautiful ears. Why not get your ears pierced? If you wear the luniform earrings that Lord Ning presented you, you will be more attractive. But if you had white skin, you would be more suitable for that earrings.” He studied adult her, and then confused, “You have been fruitier and stronger, but you still looked very haggard and sickly. Did you have a bad time in Luo’s Family?”
However, He Danggui pointed at the puppets on the ground, and asked, “Have these been carved by Lord Ning 3 years ago?”
Chang Nuo nodded and answered, “Yes, these puppets were left here because he had to go in a hurry. But last year, he once loved tiny sculpture, and memorized these puppets in the cave. Then he told me this position and asked me to take them for him. Look.” He stretched out a hand not delivering Zhenqi and picked up a puppet to her. He continued, “All of them were carved in accordance with your look. Girl, since he could sculpture these things like you with his high position, you should know how much he loves you!” Then he took the puppet to her hand.
He Danggui took it and raised it up to her nose. She looked at it carefully, and her eyes looked gloomy.
Chang Nuo stared at her and made false promises, “I promise. If you are willing to marry him, you will enjoy the best life and can revenge on those people who underestimated you before. He can give all what you want. Girl, as long as you look back, you will find that he is always waiting for you. You have no need to squabble with snobs like Sun Meiniang. You just need to lean on his arms to live a quiet life. And you will be treated well by him. As for those people who you don’t like, he will deal with them and let them prostrate at your feet.” Chang Nuo determined to change her mind at all events, so as to meet Ning Yuan meekly. He would help Ning Yuan get whatever Ning Yuan liked and wanted.
Then He Danggui raised it to the Chang Nuo’s nose, and said, “This old woman is not me.”
Chang Nuo gazed at it doubtfully, which was indeed like a beauty in her late twenties, with a delicate Wuyun hairpin and complicated frontlets, like a married woman. Besides, he judged carefully from it. Even if it was similar with He Danggui, its profile was more mature. It had a woman’s lingering charm, and there was the sense of complaint or resentment in its dark eyes. In a word, it should be the look of He Danggui from more than a decade later!
Chang Nuo picked up the puppets carved by stones and saponins. They all dressed as married women. He didn’t know the reason, but he still defended Zhu Quan, “These puppets were engraved according to your look after marrying him, which shows his determination to marry you. They all look like you. There is nothing doubtful about his love.”
He Danggui asked suddenly after a short silence, “Childe Feng, since you know there is firewood in the next cave, it’s not like your first time here.”
“Yep, I got minor injuries some time ago,” Chang Nuo smiled and said, “I found this site as looking for the place for healing, and then I have lived here for days. The firewood was cut by me. This is a rather nice place that people can live as a recluse.”
“Is there only firewood?” He Danggui questioned, “I am so hungry and thirsty. Is there anything to eat?”
Chang Nuo stopped delivering Zhenqi to her. He stood up and said, “It is so convenient to find foods in the bamboo grove, and there is a deep well here. I will be back soon.” After taking several steps forward, he turned back and said, “Don’t move. My Heart Crushing still works, and you’d better not use your internal force. You don’t want me to seal your acupoint, and I have followed. So now, you should listen to me.”
He Danggui tried to comfort him softly, “You will not be far away from me, and I have no energy to move now. I can’t leave.” Chang Nuo nodded and left as quickly as possible.
Then, He Danggui’s eyes went cold and were full of hatred. She glared at those nearly 10 puppets, whose eyes were brimming with complaint, with resentment for a while. Next, she took the one puppet and broke it with a snap. Then she folded it in half and threw it into the fire. Afterwards, she done so in others made by bamboos and saponins. But for the last 2 stone ones, she unsuccessfully broke them with bare hands. Glaring at those despairing puppets, she pounded them with Zhenqi. Then those puppets were crushed...
Why? Why were there puppets like Concubine He in her previous life? Why was there the poem written in the wall?
“The summer lotus withers gradually for cold wind and the faint fragrance can’t draw passersby’ attention. Alongside the river, beneath the pale moonlight, the withered autumn lotus makes the loneliness more bitter. The growth of the seed pot cannot maintain her beauty longer for autumn wind in White Drew. The rise and fall of nature and people are as plain as daylight in my eyes, so drink, and cherish time.”
This poem The Autumn Lotus belonged to a picture of admiring the lotus drawn by Zhu Quan at her last birthday in her pervious life. Actually, he had determined to kill her when she was pregnant, right?
She occasionally found the exchanged letters between Zhu Quan and Emperor Jianwen and knew a shocking secret that Emperor Jianwen had been still alive. From that time, he was distant and cold to her. He must have schemed numerous ways to kill her, right?
In her previous life, all concubines tittered as they saw the picture presented by Zhu Quan at her birthday party. They whispered, “The lotus means lowliness. Is it implying that Concubine He’s humble origins? It seems like she will be in disgrace.” “You’re right, after all, she has been nearly 30 years old. She is not charming enough, even if she is more delicate. What’s more, there are much more ‘younger’ pretty girls waiting for Lord’s love.” “The pregnant woman also can hog the Lord? Shame on her! Isn’t she worried about her baby?”
He Danggui could hear those low voices clearly because she had slight internal force, let alone Zhu Quan.
She felt so angry and wronged. In fact, when Zhu Quan went off on some errands secretly, his eunuchs always declared that the Lord was having a rest with Concubine He and would not see anyone. However, in those days when the other charming concubines were alone in their boudoirs and felt resentful, she also suffered the same, sleeping with her unborn baby. She had not seen Zhu Quan for more than 4 months like all the women in the mansion. At first, she had suffered violent morning sickness during pregnancy by herself. Why were those women’s mouths so vicious? They cursed her innocent child secretly!
Looking at Zhu Quan with a grievance, He Danggui counted on him to clarify matters and strike back to those big mouth concubines, so as to live a quiet and peaceful life. However, Zhu Quan pretended not to hear anything with his amazing listening, but drank with his guests warmly, who showed stiff smiles on their faces because they heard all these whispers as well. Her husband, who had been defending her all the time, pretended to be deaf and dumb. He didn’t care about her feelings anymore and whether she would be sleepless all night. In fact, at that time, she had changed from a treasure in his hands to a stepping stone under his feet, right?
Furthermore, he just scolded Concubine Gu casually when her baby was born prematurely due to Concubine Gu’s collisions. At that time, all people in the mansion had known that the Concubine He’s time had come to an end, and Concubine He was no longer the Lord’s dearest, Amitabha... After the birth of Tian, the maid took Tian out to Zhu Quan, but he just gave a look and left. And the maid told her that the Lord looked very disappointed.
So that was it. The reason why he had put up with her and not killed her for several months was that he was just waiting for his baby to be born, because the doctor felt the pulse and told him the baby would be a boy before.
Ha-ha, what a scheme! This exactly was his last mercy!
“Alongside the river, beneath the pale moonlight, the withered lotus makes the loneliness more bitter.” Why was the poem written by Zhu Quan this life on the wall? Was it because he knew something about his pervious life? Why did he insist on getting her?
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